I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for displaying articles for sale, and more particularly, to a display device having a basket and adapted to be secured to a pair of spaced and parallel upright supports.
II. Description of the Prior Art
There have been several previously known devices adapted to display merchandise for sale and of which my previous U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,238 issued on Feb. 25, 1964, is a prime example. These previously known display assemblies typically comprise a laterally elongated basket having hooked members secured to the back side of the basket at each lateral end thereof. The hooked members are adapted to be received in slots formed through spaced vertical uprights to support the basket in an elevated position.
One disadvantage of these previously known display assemblies, however, is that the hook members on the display assembly are often times misaligned with the receiving slots in the upright supports. This misalignment may be due to any number of factors, but most commonly the misalignment is due to an aggregation of manufacturing tolerances which accummulate to the extent that the display assembly will not fit on the upright supports. Both the display basket and the upright supports are constructed rigidly so that it is not feasible to bend either the upright support or the basket to cure misalignment. Consequently, a second assembly must be substituted for the misaligned assembly in the hope that the second basket will fit onto the upright supports with the hook members properly aligned with the slots in the upright supports.
Another disadvantage of these previously known display assemblies, is that it is sometimes desirable to have the basket of the display assembly in a generally horizontal position while for other types of merchandise it is desirable to have the display basket slope downwardly from the upright supports for maximum visibility of the merchandise. Since the hooked members of the previously known display assemblies have been rigidly secured to the basket portion of the assembly, it has been the previous practice of merchandisers to purchase a number of each type of display assemblies so that the diverse needs of the merchandiser could be accomodated. However, the storage area requirements and relatively high cost of the display assemblies discourage merchandisers from obtaining the number and variety of display assemblies necessary to accommodate the full range of his conceivable needs. Consequently, the merchandiser is typically left with too many display assemblies having horizontal baskets and not enough display assemblies having downwardly sloping baskets, or vice versa.